How Epona Came to Be
by Poisonous Mushroom
Summary: Ever wondered why Epona was different? Ever wondered about her past? Read to find out. Ocarina of Time. T just to be safe, but no bad language or anything.


**Notes: The edition this goes with is _Ocarina of Time._ I hope you will enjoy this as much as I do :)**

**Setting: Link has defeated Ganondorf, and Hyrule has returned to normal. Zelda is safe. Link is now a full adult. He has a daughter named Saria(after the real Saria).**

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_Epona's Story_

Thundering hooves sounded distantly as the sun set at Lon Lon Ranch. Saria smiled and dashed off into the pastures to Malon. "Mother!" she called, "He's coming!"

Malon paused from her singing and looked at her daughter. She nodded and grinned. "Okay Saria. Please go greet him."

Saria gave a brief nod and streaked over to the gate of the ranch, which still had pictures of her grandfather, the old ranch owner, and her step-uncle, Ingo, on it. They had both died of old age, before she was born. She wished she could have known them, but after all, she was only eight. Anyways, her parents owned the ranch now.

She was lost in her thoughts when her father, Link, trotted up to her on his trusty mare, Epona. "Father!" she cried happily.

"Saria!" Link exclaimed. Saria ran over to him, and to her surprise, he pulled her up into his saddle. "Hiya," Link ordered, and Epona cantered off into the fields. When the three of them reached Malon, Link halted his horse and put Saria down. Then he dismounted the horse.

Saria smiled and began to scratch Epona's head, while Link gave Malon a light kiss. "I will unsaddle her for you," Malon murmured, and began to do the task she had set out for.

Link smiled. "Love you," he whispered. And, after lightly patting Saria on the head, went to the house to wash up.

...

After dinner, Saria went to get ready for bed. She made her way upstairs, with the help of some candlelight. When she reached her room, she looked out the window. She saw Link making his way slowly out into the pasture alone. He pulled out the Ocarina of Time and played the tune most often sang by her mother, _Epona's Song. _

Saria slipped into her pajamas, yawning a bunch in the process, and made her way outside. She knew she shouldn't be up this late-for the moon told her it was about 11:00-but she wanted to talk to her father. So when she finally reached the field, she stopped for a moment, before taking out her own ocarina, which had been Link's as a child. She played _Epona's Song _also.

Link turned around. She figured he'd been expecting to see Malon. But no.. For he said, "That was very good, Saria." He smiled slightly.

"I've been practicing..." she said softly.

Link nodded, stroking Epona's neck softly as she nickered to him. Saria thought Epona was the prettiest horse she'd ever seen. "Father, why is she different from the others?" she questioned. Indeed, Epona was different, with her dark brown coat, white mane and tail, and black feet. She was even bigger than the three mares and stallion at Lon Lon Ranch. They were all buckskins.

Link looked up at his daughter's sudden question. "It is a long story.." he muttered.

"Please tell it!" Saria pleaded. Anything to stall bedtime. "I like stories!"

"Well..." Link hesitated. "Okay." He took a deep breath before starting.

_"Long ago... before I was born, my father was a great warrior. He led many battles and was a Kakorikan. Anyways. Ganondorf-whom you certainly know of-was a young teenager. Oh.. About fourteen. He was a Gerudo man, as you know. But when he was fourteen, no one was aware of his inner darkness, apart from his father-the king of the Gerudos, who was training him, and a few of the Gerudo people._"

Saria was hanging on every word.

_"Anyways, the Gerudos hated the Hylians. They were always at war. Ganondorf had grown so powerful, that he could have removed his father from the throne to become king of the Gerudos. His real plan, obviously, was to take over the whole world, but he had to start somewhere, and king of the Gerudos would be a start. However, after many years of building up strength, it looked like he wouldn't have to. His father was old and weak. And one day, when his father was fixing to lead a battle against some of the Hylians, he realized he wouldn't be coming back. My own father was the leader of the Hylian battle force, and he killed Ganondorf's father."_

Saria gasped as Link carried on.

_"The mare Ganondorf's father had been riding escaped, however. Spooked by the battle, the horse ran and ran, away into the wilderness. Though Ganondorf had wished his father dead, he ordered countless search parties for that mare-__for a reason we will never know for sure_. And finally... One group of Gerudos found it. The lucky search party quickly brought the horse to their king-who was now, obviously, Ganondorf-who was halfheartedly pleased. He immediately ordered it be bred with his black stallion, under his supervision. Finally dam was pregnant, but lost her foal. Ganondorf was angered at this, and had her bred again. And again. Three more times the mare lost her foal. But finally, she successfully delivered a young filly. Now, by this time, as you can imagine, the mare was extremely tired. As soon as the foal had been weaned, she died."

Saria figured the foal was Epona. But she wanted to know how she ended up at Lon Lon Ranch, and with Link.

_"So Ganondorf decided that the foal would be his next mount, when his so-called stud of a stallion died. Despite this, he abused the filly. He did not order servants to take care of her, so she was usually dirty. She was also deprived of food and water. However, despite the cruel nature of the Gerudos, a couple of servants usually snuck her a carrot or two. Just to try to keep her alive. Deep down, I think they had pity on her. And they-or, at least one, that is-truly did. A kind-hearted servant-a very rare Gerudo specimen-who was not quite loyal to his "king" decided to, one night, steal the foal. He snuck past the other guards, in fear that they may tell the king of his actions, and led the abused equine away. Far, far away. All the way to Lon Lon Ranch. But... He did this in one night. No one knows how. But he did. He figured Ganondorf would never check the ranch."_

"But I thought the Gerudos didn't have hearts," Saria whispered, puzzled.

"Well this one did," her father replied. "Moving on.."

_"The servant believed that Ganondorf would launch a search party for him and the foal, because he was the only person who would have been able to take her. It was only logical. And smart. So he stayed at Lon Lon out of fear, where, Malon and Talon, her father, welcomed him. Hesitantly at first.. Very hesitantly, in fact, almost hostile. but in just two days they had warmed up to him. Malon was very young. Your age, I suppose. And one day... Sadly, Ganondorf himself, along with twenty soldiers, marched into Lon Lon. They took the servant. Ganondorf told Talon to take care of his foal, and he would come back for her when she was an adult. And if Talon didn't... Things would get ugly."_

"What happened to the servant?"

Link sighed.

_"He was taken back to the Gerudos' fortress, where he was executed. Harsh, I know... But Malon was busy nursing the foal, which she now called Epona, back to health. Around this time I came along, when Malon taught me Epona's Song. Then, as a teenager, I came back to find that Ingo had been almost possessed.. By evil? Ganondorf? I never really understood it, but Malon and Talon were gone. Epona, however, was grown. I __wondered why Ganondorf hadn't come back for her yet. Maybe he'd forgotten. Anyways.. Ingo made me pay 10 rupees to ride a horse. Instead of riding one of the buckskins, I rode Epona. She seemed to remember me through Epona's Song... Anyways, then Ingo challenged me to a race, for 50 rupees. I reluctantly agreed, and won. But then he made me race again out of anger that he had lost. This time he promised me Epona. I won yet again. He gave me Epona, but he locked up the ranch permanently, with me inside. No problem. Did I ever tell you that Gerudo horses are some of the best jumpers in all of Hyrule? Epona jumped the high wall, no problem. Malon and Talon returned, and Ingo seemed to go back to his normal, kind self."_

Saria was beaming by now. "You and Epona are so great!"

Link smiled at his daughter.

_"To the point of his death, Ganondorf knew I had his horse. He never tried to get her back though. Personally, I think it was because he knew it was a waste of time. He knew he couldn't tame her."_

Link chuckled as Epona let out a loud whinny and headbutted him in the shoulder. "Alright, alright!" He gave Epona a carrot and she galloped off.

Suddenly Saria felt really tired. Her vision was blurred, and she had to blink to stay awake.

"Come on, time for bed," Link told her.

Saria simply nodded and took Link's hand as the two walked back to the house.


End file.
